CATHOLIC
BIOGRAPHIES of Catholics, Explorers, Missionaries, Saints, Carpenters, Fisherman,
and Others Who Have Shown Love for God and Neighbor See also: [ Catholic
Documents, Texts, & Archives ]
St. Nicholas
of Myra: Bishop of Myra in Lycia (from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
"...In Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, they have the custom
of making him the secret purveyor of gifts to children on 6 December, the
day on which the Church celebrates his feast;in the United States and some
other countries St. Nicholas has become identified with Santa Claus who
distributes gifts to children on Christmas eve..."
St. Nicholas
of Myra (probably born at Patara in Lycia, Died c. 350., feastday:
6 Dec)
great martyr." His name and influence also spread far into the West...he
is the patron saint of England..." This site includes many pictures
of early Greek and Russian icons of St. George.
St. George
Martyr (Catholic Encyclopedia) "...patron of England, suffered at or
near Lydda, also known as Diospolis, in Palestine, probably before the
time of Constantine..."
St. Monica
"...was born in A.D. 331 of Catholic parents in Tagaste, Numidia, Roman
Africa (modern Souk-Ahras, Algeria)..." on St.
Monica's Parish - Edmond, OK.
Catherine of
Siena: Catherine Benincasa, born in Siena on March 25 1347, and she
died in Rome on April 29 1380. Her body was laid in the church of
the Minerva.
A Biography of
Ignatius Loyola "...Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in
Azpeitia in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain..."He was
much addicted to gambling, very contentious, had developed a taste for
ladies, and engaging in swordplay. In 1521, at the age of 30, he
was an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the
French when he was seriously wounded. After being carried back to
Loyola, he was recouperating for an extended time with little to do.
Ignatius began to read "the life of Christ" and a book on the saints.
"The more he read, the more he considered the exploits of the saints worth
imitating.
Rose Philippine Duchesne
1769-1852 Born in France, Rose joined the Society of the Sacred Heart,
and in 1818, left for missionary work in America, arriving in Louisiana.
Though she toiled many years in Missouri, and "... The State of Missouri
inscribed her name first among the women on the Pioneer Roll of Fame in
St. Louis..." Mother Duchesne found joy living and working among
the Potawatomie, in Kansas, who called her "Quah-kah-ka-num-ad,"-the woman
who prays always.
Bishop John Carroll
(born at Upper Marlboro, MD, 8 Jan, 1735; died in Baltimore, 3 Dec, 1815),
"...First bishop of the hierarchy of the United States of America, first
Bishop and Archbishop of Baltimore,. His father, Daniel, born in Ireland..."
Charles Carroll
of Carrollton : On the 18th of July he signed the Declaration of Independence.
"...American statesman, b. at Annapolis, Maryland, 19 September 1737, d.
at Doughoregan manor near Baltimore, Maryland, 14 November, 1832...His
grandfather, Charles Carroll, emigrated from England to Maryland because
of the persecution of Catholics, 1 October 1688...In 1774, Carroll was
elected with six others by the citizens of Anne Arundel County and of Annapolis,
with full power to represent them in the provincial convention. Catholics
had been disfranchised and declared ineligible to a seat in the Assembly,
but by this act the prejudice against them was swept away. Carroll
was from this time for a period of twenty-seven years called to important
public service in behalf of the colony and for the general government..."
A
Biography of Daniel Carroll, ( born ca. 1730, in Upper Marlboro, MD),
by National Archives and Records Administration's Founding
Fathers page, "Elected to the Continental Congress that year, he carried
to Philadelphia the news that Maryland was at last ready to accede to the
Articles of Confederation, to which he soon penned his name....Daniel's
older brother was John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the
United States..."
Daniel Carroll
(born 1733, in Upper Marlboro, MD - died at Washington in 1829)
St.
John Neumann was born, in 1811, in Prachatitz in Bohemia, and was was
named Bishop of Philadelphia, PA in 1852.
EWTN: St. Frances
Xavier Cabrini (b. 1850 in Lombardy Italy; d.1917 in Chicago, Illinois,
U.S.A.) Mother Cabrini arrived in New York, on March 31, 1889, to work
among the immigrants; She was the first United States citizen to be elevated
to sainthood, Taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley
& Co., Inc.
James Cardinal Gibbons
(1834-1921): "...When he was made a cardinal in 1886, legions of his fellow
citizens, Catholic and non-Catholic, were mightily pleased..." Born
of Irish parents, he has "Local" ties to several states in the U.S. including
Maryland (his birthplace), Louisiana and Virginia.
Saint Katharine
Drexel (1858-1955) - Born to Francis Anthony and Hanna Langstroth Drexel,
Katharine's mother died shortly after her birth, her father remarried Emma
Bouvier and in 1863. Katharine, her older sister, Elizabeth and Louise.
Katherine became the Foundress of the Sisters
of the Blessed Sacrament.
Frances Xavier Cabrini:
(1850-1917) was born in Lombardy. In 1880, she founded the order
now known as the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Codozno. After
her 1889 arrival in "Little Italy" on New York's East Side, Mother Cabrini
directed the establishment of convents, hospitals, orphanages and schools
in many U.S. cities and in Latin America. Though she died in Chicago,
she was buried in New York: the place she called home for so many years.
Since Mother Cabrini had become an American citizen, in 1909, in Seattle,
WA, she became the first U.S. citizen to be declared a saint when she was
canonized in 1946.
Father Augustus Tolton:
The First U.S. African American Priest, he was born in 1854 in Ralls County,
MO and is buried in Quincy, IL.
Ukraine By Father Bohdan Lukie Andrew Sheptytsky "...headed
the Ukrainian Catholic Church for nearly 50 years until his death on Nov. 1, 1944..."
Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
Dorothy started "The Catholic
Worker" (1930s) to publicize the Catholic Faith and social teachings,
calling for a personal response to suffering and injustice with "Works
of Mercy" providing food for the soul and the body. Writings
By Dorothy Day
Rt. Rev. Prof. Dr.
Petro B.T. Bilaniuk (1932-1998) contributed to Ukrainian scholarship
- authoring several books concerning Ukrainian Christianity including "The
Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517) and the Eastern Churches." Toronto:
The Central Committee for the Defence of Rite, Tradition and Language of
the Ukrainian Catholic Church in USA and Canada, 1975.
Explaination
and disclaimer: Though the beliefs and practices of individual members
of the Catholic Church may differ from the official teachings of the Catholic
Church, I have tried to gather information and links that appear to follow
the official teachings of the Roman See. I cannot, however, control
the content of others' web sites, and I myself can err. Please inform
me of errors on my site, and of any links which may become inappropriate
to family viewing.
